An Overview on Regional Agricultural Biotechnology Network of Near East and North Africa (RABNENA)

Agricultural Biotechnology Network for Regional Collaboration and Knowledge Sharing

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

An Overview on

Regional Agricultural Biotechnology Network

of Near East and North Africa (RABNENA)

Magdi Latif

FAO Knowledge and Capacity for Development Division

Knowledge Exchange, Research and Extension Office

FAO/RNE, Cairo, Egypt

July 2012

http://www.fao.org/

http://www.fao.org/



What is RABNENA?


oF Near East and North Africa (RABNENA) is a

regional platform for strengthening

knowledge sharing and cooperation for

Agricultural Research and Development

(ARD) for biotechnology target groups and

stakeholders at national and regional levels.



RABNENA Objectives• To create a regional gateway as a single access point for agricultural biotechnology

where the different countries of the region can share a united vision of the agricultural biotechnology policies, regulations, research and innovations that will support agricultural development and food security at a country level.

• To facilitate biotechnology knowledge sharing and information exchange for stakeholders at national and regional levels through the development of a thematic biotechnology knowledge management system for the collection, management and dissemination of information/knowledge on advances in agricultural biotechnology research and innovation results that will support strengthening performance of farmers and agrarian businesses.

• To establish functional mechanism for cooperation and enhancement of communication and exchange of experiences and good practices on agricultural biotechnologies among different countries in the region in support of agricultural development and food security.



RABNENA expected Outcomes

Prevent redundancy and duplication,

Create access to research information, knowledge

and innovations,

Ensure maximum knowledge sharing among

various agricultural research institutes, programs

and personnel on regional, national and institutional

levels,

Provide enable environment for good coordination

and Cooperation.



RABNENA Stakeholders• Policy-makers in agriculture and rural development, especially in

the MOA and NARIs.

• Biotechnology Department heads and professional technical officers within the MOA and NARIs.

• Other Ministries related to rural development.

• Universities and colleges with agricultural biotechnology-related faculties and departments.

• Farmers’ and producers’ organizations.

• Credit and marketing associations and Chambers of Commerce.

• Private sector involved in agricultural biotechnology.

• Non-Governmental Organizations involved in agricultural Biotechnology for agricultural development and food security.

• Regional and International Organizations involved in agricultural development and food security and General Public.




• Strengthening the capacity of the biotechnology institutes in the

Ministry of Agriculture and Other Stakeholders

• Development and management of relevant and effective

regional agricultural biotechnology knowledge management

system in support of agricultural development and food security

policies

Achievements:

• Networked all agricultural biotechnology institutions

through a regional gateway

Multilingual (Arabic and English) knowledge

management system implemented in RABNENA



RABNENA Interfaces

1- Front end Interface:

The front end components provide the information browsing and retrieval functionalities, and are available to any site user.

2- Back end Interface:

The backend components provide the data management functionalities that enable system administrators to input/update/delete data items into the RABNENA database. These components are accessible by system administrators only.



News Events

Extension Bulletins

Media Centre

Online News

Online Events

RSS

CollaborativeCountry Reports

LinksFocal Points

Publications Projects Experts Institutions

RABNENA

Modules

Success Stories

Good Practices

About Marquee



RABNENA FRONT END



RABNENA BACKEND





• AGMES – Agricultural Metadata Element Set

• AGRIS Application Profile

• AGROVOC Arabic/English

• Real Simple Syndicate - RSS

• Open Archives Initiative Compliance

• Online Web services

• Software – MySQL Open Source

• CIARD Manifesto and a common set of Principles

Information Standards and Tools

for Content Management

www.fao.org/aims

To develop and promote interoperability standards

to facilitate the efficient dissemination of content.

interoperability is connecting

people, data and diverse

systems.

ftp://ext-ftp.fao.org/GI/Agris/aims/references/flyers/

ftp://ext-ftp.fao.org/GI/Agris/aims/references/flyers/



Mobilizing and Providing Access to

Agricultural Information

• AGRIS – Providing agricultural research and development institutions with an avenue to publish and disseminate the outputs of their work

• AGORA - Providing access to the world’s scientific literature in agriculture in peer-reviewed learned journals

• CIARD – Providing commitment to promote the sharing of data, information, and knowledge in a global network of truly public collections of information, based on a Manifesto and a common set of Principles.



Coherence in Information for AgriculturalResearch for Development (CIARD)

Availability: Information is stored in digital formats, with clearly defined copyright,

managed in one or more institutionally-owned, thematic or other repositories, built

and structured according to accepted international standards.

Accessibility: Information is openly accessible for all users, and easily located via the

Internet from outside the institution using tools and services adopted by the international

community.

Applicability: Research planning, implementation and communication are an inclusive

process bringing together all perspectives and knowledge. Research outputs and

messages are adapted for easy access, use and re-use by different stakeholders,

increasing the public benefits derived from the research.

Partners in the CIARD initiative have made a collective commitment

to promote the sharing of data, information, and knowledge in a

global network of truly public collections of information, based on a

Manifesto and a common set of Principles.



Success Factors for Regional Network

1. Commitment for contribution/collaboration at national level;

2. Focus on capacity building at national level;

3. Existence of a regional information strategy;

4. Development of a Secretariat role for regional activities;

5. Focus on community of practice amongst the info specialists;

6. Raising awareness of ICM issues at Manager./political levels;

7. Formation of strategic partnerships amongst the major

stakeholder organizations.



Thank You for your Attention

Education

An Overview on Regional Agricultural Biotechnology Network of Near East and North Africa (RABNENA)